In the manufacturing process of an industrial product, there are many processes of lifting a sample such as a workpiece or raw material or transferring the sample between devices. In a case of lifting the sample or transferring the sample between devices, it is necessary to grab the sample, and a sample-holding device is provided as a device for grabbing the sample.
Examples of a known sample-holding device include a device of a type of physically clipping a sample with a manipulator, a magnetic chuck using a magnetic force, a vacuum pad using vacuum, and a Bernoulli chuck using the Bernoulli effect (Patent Document 1). The Bernoulli chuck is suitable for holding and lifting a thin and smooth sample such as a sheet or a substrate. In addition, since the Bernoulli chuck can hold the sample in a noncontact manner in theory, the Bernoulli chuck does not have negative effects such as attaching an oil film or dirt to the surface of a sample, and making the surface irregular. Therefore, the sample held by the Bernoulli chuck is less damaged by being held and is preferably used in a case where there is a process where a damage to the sample surface affects the appearance and the quality of a product, such as a CVD process, a sputtering process, a printing process, or a plating process.
In addition, the present applicant newly discloses a method for manufacturing a solar cell (Patent Document 2). The method for manufacturing a solar cell disclosed in Patent Document 2 is, for example, a technique for providing an amorphous semiconductor layer on a crystalline semiconductor substrate by using a PECVD device or the like, and is a method of using a vertical-type vacuum processing device. In the method for manufacturing a solar cell disclosed in Patent Document 2, a plurality of crystalline semiconductor substrates is arranged on a substrate holder (sample-mounting member). Here, many sample-supporting members are provided on the substrate holder.
Initially, the substrate holder is mounted in a horizontal orientation. In this state, the plurality of crystalline semiconductor substrates are arranged side by side on the substrate holder. In this state, gravity acts in a direction from the front surface of the crystalline semiconductor substrate to the rear surface of the substrate. Therefore, the rear surface of the crystalline semiconductor substrate is held on the surface of the substrate holder, and the orientation of the substrate is stabilized.
Then, as the next process, the orientation of the substrate holder is changed from horizontal to vertical. At that time, the gravity direction changes such that gravity acts in the direction from one side of the substrate to another side, and the sample-supporting member is brought into contact with the lower side. The sample-supporting member supporting or gripping the lower side of the crystalline semiconductor substrate prevents the substrate from falling. In addition, as a configuration specific to Patent Document 2, the orientation of the crystalline semiconductor substrate is inclined as illustrated in FIG. 19 and FIG. 20 when the orientation of the substrate holder becomes vertical.